According to Cherokee County Sheriff Jeff Shaver, a homicide occurred at a residence in the Salem community overnight on December 2, 2017. Deputies and investigators responded to the residence and discovered a white male with a gun shot wound to the head. Cherokee County Coroner Jeremy Deaton pronounced the victim dead at the scene. Sheriff’s Office investigators assigned to the Major Crimes Unit, the Coroner’s Office, and the JSU Center for Applied Forensics processed the crime scene.

Chief Investigator Josh Summerford and Investigator Michael Green interviewed the suspect, 19 year-old Matthew Gonzalez, at the Paulding County, Georgia, Sheriff’s Office, where he was taken into custody early Sunday morning for DUI by the Georgia State Patrol.

According to Sheriff Shaver, the suspect will be extradited back to Cherokee County on capital murder charges, after he bonds in Paulding County.